The history of jupiters discovery is quite simple, because jupiter is so bright that you can see it with the naked eye. Though Gailieo claims to be the first person to have discovered Jupiter, he actually just discovered it's four largest moons(Io, Europa, Gannymede, and Callisto). Even though techniqually nobody really discovered the giant planet Jupiter, Galilieo discovered it's 4 largest moons in 1610. This is when people really began to notice the planet and all of it's moons. Also we know the ancient Greeks saw Jupiter way before Galilieo because the Greeks are the ones' who named the planet. Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun and is called a gas giant or a Jovian planet because it is primarialy made up of gasses. It is also the largest planet in our solar systen but it isn't the brightest planet seen from Earth, that would be Venus. Even though Jupiter is the largesr planet in our solar system, we don't really know anythigh about it. We only have theories and hypotheisis of the planet. Jupiter is very different from the other planets because it is almost like a little mini solar system in our own Solar System. Because Jupiter has 63 moons people think that most of Jupiter's moons are captured astroids or Giant chunks of Jupiter's moons that have been hit by asteroids.
Composition and Origins
Jupiter is mostly made up of Helium, Hydrogen, and small amounts of Methane, Ammonia and water vapor.
Jupiter is almost exactly like the sun and is thought to have formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It is thought that Jupiter first formed a solid core and then began to attract other gasses and form the planet. Jupiter is not a solid planet and is mainly made up of gasses, there for you could never stand on the surface of Jupiter. The moons however are solid and are thought to be captured atsroids that got sucked into Jupiter's gravity. Most of Jupiter's moons are solid but are very different from eachother. Io is known to have the most volcanic activity on it with no water at all, while Europa is made of frozen water and rock. Those are only the two largest moons of Jupiter, the others are mainly made up of rock. It is thought that jupiter is actually a reject star that just didn't gain enough mass to become a full blown star. Because if jupiter was a star then our Solar Systen would have two suns and we wouldn't be able to have life on Earth. When Jupiter was first recorded by Gaillieo he also discovered it's four largest moons a few days later. And to this day we are still finding new moons and satilites orbiting around Jupiter. Jupiter also has two rings around it like Saturn, but it's rings are to thin to see from Earth. Jupiter's rings were found on March of 1979 by voyager 1. Voyager 1 also discovered that Jupiter doesn't just have one giant ring orbiting it, it has three different ring systems floting around it. The inner-most ring closest to Jupiter is called the Halo ring and is Cloud like, the next one out is the Main Ring. The outer- most ring called the Gossamer Ring is different fro the other two rings because it has two rings inside of it. They are called the Amalthea Gossamer Ring (inner one) and the Thebe Gossamer Ring (the outter-most one). It is thought that the rings of Jupiter were formed from meteors striking the inner moons and that kicked up enough dust and debris for it to begin to orbit Jupiter.
Observations
There have been many missions to observe the planet Jupiter. Some of the most famoius ones are, Europa Jupiter System Mission, Galileo, Io Observer, Juno, Jupiter Multi-Probes Mission, New Horizions, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager1, and Voyager 2. Durring all of these missions observers have managed to discover something new every time we look at Jupiter. These are some of the most important missions because the new bits of information we learn we discover more and more about our universe. On the famous Galileo mission we discovered that Jupiter's big red spot is not stationary on the planet, it moves around and it moves in a circular motion around the planet like a hurricane. And that it is also a gaint storm that is raging at speeds of 384 miles per hour whipping clouds into a very large hurricane about 3 times three size of Earth. Also the Voyager 1 Mission in in March of 1979 and later on the Voyager 2 mission discovered that there are actually rings orbiting around Jupiter. They are so thin though that you can't see them with your own naked eye like you can see Saturn's. The rings are less than 6.2 miles thick, and there are really 3 different rings that orbit Jupiter. They are called the Halo Ring- the inner most ring that is cloud like. The Main Ring- the middle ring that is narrow and thin, and the Gossamer Ring which is the outer most ring and is nearly transparent. Also the Galileo Mission dicovered that the rings are made up of small mcroscopic particles of dust and rock collected from meteors crashing into Juoiter's inner smaller moons.
Did you Know?!?
That Jupiter's big red spot is estimated to be 350 years old, and that it was first identified by Giovanni Cassini in 1665. This is relevant because with the dicovery of the big "Red Spot" we realized that it is actually a very large storm that has high powered winds that are whipping Jupiter's amonia clouds in all directions. Also did you know that compasses would work on Jupiter? That is because Jupiter's magnetic feild is 14 times more powerful than Earth's.
Scienctists believe this happens because of the movements of metallic hydrogen deep inside the core. The magnetic feild also traps ionized particles from the solar winds, which causes them to move at the speed of light. What that all means is that from solar winds moving at the speed of light that Jupiter has a dangerous belt of radiation that is strong enough to damage any space craft that happens to get to close to Jupiter. Did you know that Jupiter's 4 largest moons are named after the Roman gods Jupiter's, lovers? Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto all were named after the roman gods lovers because they revolve around Jupiter itself. There for they are fitting names. Jupiter also got it's name because the roman god Jupiter is known as the leader of all the gods, equivallent to the greek god Zeus. This is important because it is their names! Andnit also explains the history behind the naming orf the planet and it's moons.
Table of Contents
Jupiter
The history of jupiters discovery is quite simple, because jupiter is so bright that you can see it with the naked eye. Though Gailieo claims to be the first person to have discovered Jupiter, he actually just discovered it's four largest moons(Io, Europa, Gannymede, and Callisto). Even though techniqually nobody really discovered the giant planet Jupiter, Galilieo discovered it's 4 largest moons in 1610. This is when people really began to notice the planet and all of it's moons. Also we know the ancient Greeks saw Jupiter way before Galilieo because the Greeks are the ones' who named the planet. Jupiter is the 5th planet from the sun and is called a gas giant or a Jovian planet because it is primarialy made up of gasses. It is also the largest planet in our solar systen but it isn't the brightest planet seen from Earth, that would be Venus. Even though Jupiter is the largesr planet in our solar system, we don't really know anythigh about it. We only have theories and hypotheisis of the planet. Jupiter is very different from the other planets because it is almost like a little mini solar system in our own Solar System. Because Jupiter has 63 moons people think that most of Jupiter's moons are captured astroids or Giant chunks of Jupiter's moons that have been hit by asteroids.
Composition and Origins
Jupiter is mostly made up of Helium, Hydrogen, and small amounts of Methane, Ammonia and water vapor.
Jupiter is almost exactly like the sun and is thought to have formed about 4.5 billion years ago. It is thought that Jupiter first formed a solid core and then began to attract other gasses and form the planet. Jupiter is not a solid planet and is mainly made up of gasses, there for you could never stand on the surface of Jupiter. The moons however are solid and are thought to be captured atsroids that got sucked into Jupiter's gravity. Most of Jupiter's moons are solid but are very different from eachother. Io is known to have the most volcanic activity on it with no water at all, while Europa is made of frozen water and rock. Those are only the two largest moons of Jupiter, the others are mainly made up of rock. It is thought that jupiter is actually a reject star that just didn't gain enough mass to become a full blown star. Because if jupiter was a star then our Solar Systen would have two suns and we wouldn't be able to have life on Earth. When Jupiter was first recorded by Gaillieo he also discovered it's four largest moons a few days later. And to this day we are still finding new moons and satilites orbiting around Jupiter. Jupiter also has two rings around it like Saturn, but it's rings are to thin to see from Earth. Jupiter's rings were found on March of 1979 by voyager 1. Voyager 1 also discovered that Jupiter doesn't just have one giant ring orbiting it, it has three different ring systems floting around it. The inner-most ring closest to Jupiter is called the Halo ring and is Cloud like, the next one out is the Main Ring. The outer- most ring called the Gossamer Ring is different fro the other two rings because it has two rings inside of it. They are called the Amalthea Gossamer Ring (inner one) and the Thebe Gossamer Ring (the outter-most one). It is thought that the rings of Jupiter were formed from meteors striking the inner moons and that kicked up enough dust and debris for it to begin to orbit Jupiter.
Observations
There have been many missions to observe the planet Jupiter. Some of the most famoius ones are, Europa Jupiter System Mission, Galileo, Io Observer, Juno, Jupiter Multi-Probes Mission, New Horizions, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager1, and Voyager 2. Durring all of these missions observers have managed to discover something new every time we look at Jupiter. These are some of the most important missions because the new bits of information we learn we discover more and more about our universe. On the famous Galileo mission we discovered that Jupiter's big red spot is not stationary on the planet, it moves around and it moves in a circular motion around the planet like a hurricane. And that it is also a gaint storm that is raging at speeds of 384 miles per hour whipping clouds into a very large hurricane about 3 times three size of Earth. Also the Voyager 1 Mission in in March of 1979 and later on the Voyager 2 mission discovered that there are actually rings orbiting around Jupiter. They are so thin though that you can't see them with your own naked eye like you can see Saturn's. The rings are less than 6.2 miles thick, and there are really 3 different rings that orbit Jupiter. They are called the Halo Ring- the inner most ring that is cloud like. The Main Ring- the middle ring that is narrow and thin, and the Gossamer Ring which is the outer most ring and is nearly transparent. Also the Galileo Mission dicovered that the rings are made up of small mcroscopic particles of dust and rock collected from meteors crashing into Juoiter's inner smaller moons.
Did you Know?!?
That Jupiter's big red spot is estimated to be 350 years old, and that it was first identified by Giovanni Cassini in 1665. This is relevant because with the dicovery of the big "Red Spot" we realized that it is actually a very large storm that has high powered winds that are whipping Jupiter's amonia clouds in all directions. Also did you know that compasses would work on Jupiter? That is because Jupiter's magnetic feild is 14 times more powerful than Earth's.
Scienctists believe this happens because of the movements of metallic hydrogen deep inside the core. The magnetic feild also traps ionized particles from the solar winds, which causes them to move at the speed of light. What that all means is that from solar winds moving at the speed of light that Jupiter has a dangerous belt of radiation that is strong enough to damage any space craft that happens to get to close to Jupiter. Did you know that Jupiter's 4 largest moons are named after the Roman gods Jupiter's, lovers? Io, Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto all were named after the roman gods lovers because they revolve around Jupiter itself. There for they are fitting names. Jupiter also got it's name because the roman god Jupiter is known as the leader of all the gods, equivallent to the greek god Zeus. This is important because it is their names! Andnit also explains the history behind the naming orf the planet and it's moons.
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